Category Archives: Engineering

In the world full of concern about endangered animals, the mutant crayfish are in the totally opposite state. These mutant crayfish, called marmorkrebs (or marbled crayfish), are spreading all over the world – from a stream in Florida to Madagascar.

Then, why are the people calling them the “mutant” crayfish? The reason is that the number of the marmorkrebs with the same copies of chromosomes is increasing. In other words, they are being “clones” for each other!!!

Indeed, there is one distinct feature of marmorkrebs which let them make their offspring as their clones. It is “PARTHENOGENESIS”. In parthenogenesis, the female marmorkrebs are able to fertilize themselves and lay their eggs without the assist of male marmorkrebs. Despite the fact that common animals’ chromosomes are comprised of the chromosomes both from their mom and dad, marmorkrebs, which show parthenogenesis, does not. To be specific, common animals has two sets of chromosomes, one from their mom and the other from dad. However, marmorkrebs get all of those two from their mom!! Then, does it mean that males do not have any role?

No, it’s not. Here is the case. If a female produces an egg with two sets of chromosomes and a male fertilize it, a third chromosome is added to it, making these offspring to have three sets of chromosomes. Then, what makes these offspring special is that an extra copy of the gene can remove damaged genes from the marmorkrebs’ genomes!

However, as these species are becoming popular as pets, they lack the chance to make three chromosomes. The female-produced eggs hatch without the males’ fertilization. If one of the female marmorkrebs escapes from one’s house and enters a stream, then the result will be awful – a stream full of clones. One final problem is that they are going to invade the native species in the new environment.

For this problem of rapidly spreading species, ecologists are still working hard for the remedy.

Every human, living on the Earth, will know what the “long-standing global concern” is. Right, it is “Global Warming“.

Since the global warming began, lots of people tried their best to discover a way to end this concern. However, it was not such a simple problem to be solved. People continuously failed to find an efficient way to stop global warming.

Then finally, in recent days, COLUMBUS, Ohio–Engineers at The Ohio State University discovered a way to put an end to global warming!!! This new technology is called Coal-Direct Chemical Looping (CDCL) combustion, which is able to reduce the main factor of global warming, Carbon Dioxide. This new technology, CDCL, has a potential to convert biomass into useful products including electricity. (without emitting Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere)

To briefly tell about the process of this technology…

Coal-Direct Chemical Looping (CDCL) combustion

–> release energy from coal while capturing more than 99 percent of the resulting CO2

–>after combustion, the particles take back the oxygen from air, and the cycle begins again

According to the researchers, this process can be cycled about 3,000 times at most. For these reasons, this new technology can thoroughly provide clean electricity until renewable energies (solar and wind) become available and affordable all over the world.

After developing the machine, the research team reported three papers, telling the findings they discover:

1. CDCL can transform shale gas into products such as methanol and gasoline (consume all the carbon dioxide it produces + surrounding carbon dioxide)

2. We discovered a way to extend the lifetime of the particles that enable the chemical reaction to transform coal or other fuels to electricity and useful products

3. We discovered a way with a potential to lower the capital costs in producing a fuel gas called “syngas” by about 50% over the traditional technology

Through this new technology, the world can now get rid of a massive amount of carbon dioxide. I hope that the global warming would be solved by this new technology!

Recently, computers are used by various people and in various fields. Unlike the past computers, which were not so popular because of its scarcity, recent computers have higher popularity due to the improved environment. People have been able to use computers to handle a variety of tasks such as shopping, playing games, doing financial work, watching movies, etc. However, the new field of crime was pioneered at the same time. Even though the history of hacking is not quite long, its influence and growth have changed dramatically.

The starting point of hacking is the invention of the new computer, OS (operating system), the programming language, and internet. From the first computer ENIAC, the computer had drastically developed because of the invention of the transistor. Furthermore, the invention of programming languages, such as BASIC and C, had made the environment of using the computer favorable, especially for hacking. In 1969, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson created the first version of UNIX (kind of OS), and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) created the first form of the internet called ARPANET. Based on advanced computer performance, programming tools, and environment, students and researchers of MIT, University of California Los Angeles, Stanford Research Institute were able to develop the field of computer hacking.

For example, in 1963, the first malicious hacking was caused by the students from MIT. They deluded the phone company to make some free calls without phone bills. This kind of hacking is phreaking. They used the programming skill called reverse engineering to interpret the program that was used in the tone of long-route phone calls. Reverse engineering is computer skill that analyzes and identify the structures, components, and details of the target program. By using this skill, they created new tones of the long-route phone call themselves and used them for free.

In conclusion, by using new technology, programming language, and computer environment, humanity was able to pioneer a new field of science, the computer science (hacking). Until the 1980s, almost all type of hacking was phreaking. After the 1980s, hacking developed rapidly.

As most people say, the improvement of science and technology changed our society in many ways. Human lives have attained a higher level of convenience, variety, and vividness. Also, the curiosity of human nature influenced scientists, and the scientists pioneered the new field of science: the aerospace. This field is all about launching the manned spacecraft, sending the space satellites, creating the space shuttles and developing the aerospace technology. However, these works spend a lot of money. The weight of fuel and expendable launch system are the major factors of an expensive launch cost. To solve this problem, many international aerospace science institutes and private aerospace company have researched the way to decrease the weight of the rocket and improve the fuel-efficiency.

Depending on the type of fuel, spaceships are classified as a solid-fuel rocket or liquid-fuel rocket. The rocket using solid-fuel can radiate stronger thrust than the rocket using liquid-fuel can. Moreover, using solid-fuel rocket has fewer parts to manufacture than that of a liquid-fuel rocket, and it is easy to launch instantly after long-term storage. However, it is hard to control the rocket during the flight. On the other hand, the liquid-fuel rocket can control the magnitude of thrust. Therefore, most of the rockets use both solid and liquid type engines. By using them, aerospace science organization efficiently launch the rockets. Although these kinds of means are developed, reducing the launch cost is a hard problem to solve. Among other institutes and organizations, the company called ‘SpaceX’ came up with an innovative solution: using a reusable rocket.

‘SpaceX’ is a company that substitutes for transporting space freight such as space satellites, parts of space stations, and daily necessities for astronauts. It is the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft. In addition, it is the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the first to reuse an orbital rocket. Common rockets that use expendable launch system are launched once and then discard after the end of the flight. However, this company’s rockets use the reusable rockets that apply the reusable launch system (RLS, or reusable launch vehicle, RLV). RLS is a launch system that can launch a payload into space more than once. Most reusable rockets can be reused when the parts of them assemble again after their flight. Also, the reusable rocket of ‘SpaceX’ can take off and land vertically to its original launch center. Through these mechanisms, ‘SpaceX’ could save the launch cost by a factor of 6 compared to that of other institutes and organizations.

‘SpaceX’ has contracted with National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) and other international aerospace science institutes. Also, it has developed many other rockets and dragon capsules such as Falcon 9 v1.2, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon V2. The prospect of this company seems very good.

Lots of people – almost all people maybe- use ‘cloud’ for their own warehouse of private information. ‘Google Drive’ and ‘I Cloud’ can be the examples of those named ‘Cloud’. Not in the internal storage such as a computer or mobile phone, but in the external storage server, people can download or upload their files. These cloud systems made people’s lives so much comfortable.

However, ‘I Cloud’ -the cloud system served by ‘Apple’ company- had recently been hacked by the unknown hackers!!! According to a BBC News report in January 2014, hundreds of British and American celebrities’ pictures had been spilled. Following to this incident, lots of people are worrying about their private information being spilled out. Then, why are the hackers aiming to hack these ‘Cloud’ systems despite their advanced security systems – which leads hackers to spend lots of money?

Before hacking the server, the hackers approximately measure how much money would be spent and be earned after hacking the server. This is because the reason why hackers hack is just to get the incomes. For Cloud Systems, however, they can give more than hackers pay to hack the servers’ security systems. There are three big reasons why Cloud Systems give much benefit to the hackers.

The first reason is that the Cloud Systems contain a lot of important information in them. From individuals to large businesses, big data are stored in the Cloud Systems. Thus, the hackers can hold a mortgage on the information and earn much money. The second reason is that since the Cloud Systems are one of the kinds of server systems, diffusion of malignant codes is easily done. For example, the hackers can make malignant codes as the update files falsely and make people to be infected in those codes readily. Lastly, since Cloud Systems are made to share files among people, malignant codes can be shared among people easily. To be specific, sharing infected files with other people make other people’s files to be infected, too.

Cloud Systems are commonly used among lots of people in this world. The security systems on the server were not that weak systems, too. However, the hackers decided to hack since the server makes more benefit to the hackers more than they need to spend for passing the security systems. This is the matter of course, but the Cloud Systems necessarily need to be reinforced in security systems until the hackers profit being canceled out. After then, the hackers might lose the motivation to hack the Cloud System Servers and the private information. I hope this world to be safer in the online world, too.

As time goes, the world is suffering more and more because of the increasing fine dust. Especially in China, lots of factories make fine dust and spreads out all over the world. The problem is that the fine dust cannot be filtered by the hairs of the nostrils, causing lots of diseases from the bronchial diseases to the severe diseases. Therefore, many people in the world are trying to get rid of this ‘Fine Dust Problem’. Meanwhile, one of the artist (also known as a designer) in Netherlands named ‘Daan Roosegaarde’ designed a 7 meters high air purifier at Beijing.

Theoretically, this tower can purify more than 60% of the surrounding 30,000㎥ of air. Moreover, since the most of the existing fine dust came from coal, which is the molecule made by carbon, diamond can be manufactured by processing the filtered substances by high-temperature. At least one diamond can be made by 1,000㎥ of pollutants.

(Lewis structure of Graphite)

However, this theoretical idea had been removed only after 42 days from its construction. The reason why is that this air purifier did not have real efficiency as people expected. It was no more than a ‘designed’ machine for ‘International Design Festival’. It was not able to purify the surrounding air from the fine dust.

As the world expected, the fine dust problem was not just a simple problem. The problem which suffered us for long period of time does not leave from our daily-life readily. However, the idea of cleaning the air using a large air purifier and further making diamond was fresh and great. No one can have doubt on that the challenge of human to nature is respectful and never-ending.

Recently, a bicycle has become not only a transportation but also a trend item. Environmental issues contributed to the growth of bicycle market. As the bicycle market grew, more and more people started to buy and ride their own bicycle. However, there are only a few people who understand the intricacies of how cycling actually works. Let’s take a look at some questions about the bicycle.

What do we know about the bicycle? We know one simple principle: pedal turns a gear that turns a wheel. But it’s physics that is really fascinating. As we think more deeply, more and more mysteries appear — how the bicycle goes straight, what factors work to balance when it moves, etc. Quantum physicist Michael Brooks summed it up nicely in a 2013 article in the New Statesman: “Forget mysterious dark matter and the inexplicable accelerating expansion of the universe; the bicycle represents a far more embarrassing hole in the accomplishments of physics.”

Then, you might think that the design of bicycle has the key of the physics. The answer is, it actually not. Indeed, bicycle manufacturers put a lot of effort and energy in designing bicycles. They put new carbon fiber frames, different sized wheels or tires with different thicknesses. But these are the result guessed by a lot of tests, not mathematically calculated theories.

Although scientists don’t know the exact factor, we know some simple basics. Bike going straightly isn’t just because of the force of momentum pushing it there. First, the bike can’t go straight if the handlebar is fixed. Second, one of the key figures is handlebar angle. The angled handlebar makes an effect of sliding from tilted wall. This is because the steering axis and the contact point are at different places, so the front tire moves towards the steering axis. That helps the bike self-steer and makes the bicycle stable when a rider is on it. What we still don’t know is how these forces, as well as the gyroscopic effect of the tires turning, interact with one another.

The reality is that bike design really hasn’t improved in decades, says Jim Papadopoulos. People have just tried to improve the appearance and reduce the weight of bicycles. So, what we can improve now is change the rider. To bicycles, riders are the most important factor for getting balanced. The aerodynamic position of a rider is certainly important if the road is not really smooth. We can credit the bike for a lot of things, but the real machine that we have to think about more is the rider driving the bicycle forward.